I thank you for your letter, which just arrived.2 From it I see that a remark in the review has caused dismay, which I shall explain, given your ignorance of
the current conditions and relations. I can thus state, by way of explanation, the following:3

I gave the lecture at a time when I was besieged by the the wildest rumor-mongering, which oppressed me,
and even cost me my position. The review appeared only some weeks later, and marks the initial phase of the
matter! I am indebted to the reviewer4 for his introductory
remarks, for in so doing he created a breathing-space for me with respect to
those people who trumpeted every word that came from my mouth in Hamburg as Jewish propaganda! I also found it entirely appropriate
that he mentioned you to some extent in the review, as I could dare to speak about you in my lecture without my
attracting, entirely inadvertently, an opposition that could not be overcome, and which to some extent surfaced
anyway. One cannot accuse the reviewer even of telling a white lie, since I intentionally disguised those of
your truths that I regarded as important to bring out in a pedagogical guise
of my own making, as one is accustomed to
doing here these days, and hope that I have thereby given better service to the truth than if I had, stupidly,
refused to have a discussion [period following the lecture], as
certain other people do. It was enough for me that our master of ceremonies deemed the lecture
"unsuitable." Why that was the case is something I hardly need to explain.5

That Schenkerian threory is not
discussed today ("for the time being," as it says in the letter of the provincial
director) probably has to do in part with the fact that I have only now – personally, and also through
collaboration with other, reasonable people – made the provincial director aware of the content and value of
your life's work! Even a short time ago, Schenkerian theory was "Jewish rubbish," and the gentlemen in
question neither had an inkling of your work, nor did they know that you were still alive! So this is the way things were, and are, regarding your reputation here in the great
North! The standing that you enjoy in Hamburg is largely the
result of my efforts, and here I will mention Violin's name,
too! There are still other people here who draw profit from {2} your works, but they stopped opening
their mouths when it no longer seemed opportune to do so! Yet it would be absurd to suppose that I would show
off, at your expense! For me the question of "damage" or
"success" is entirely irrelevant; the only thing that matters is the truth! And the way in which I fight for these results
entirely and exclusively from the present circumstances, which would certainly be very difficult for you to
observe! The only thing that I ask for myself is the freedom to develop my own
ideas, and where and when I express these must be left to my judgement.6

One more thing: my "help" with the review extended [only] as far as reminding the reviewer of a few points that seemed important to
me, so that they would not be forgotten.7

Let me conclude, dear, honored master, with a contemporary saying: "To be German is to do
something for its own sake!" Ask nothing more of me! If you were in my shoes and had to put up
with what I have had to put up with here for the sake of the truth, i.e. also for your sake, you would have
perhaps chosen your words a little differently!

My wife and I thank you most cordially for
your good wishes, and wish you and your wife a good
rest!

I thank you for your letter, which just arrived.2 From it I see that a remark in the review has caused dismay, which I shall explain, given your ignorance of
the current conditions and relations. I can thus state, by way of explanation, the following:3

I gave the lecture at a time when I was besieged by the the wildest rumor-mongering, which oppressed me,
and even cost me my position. The review appeared only some weeks later, and marks the initial phase of the
matter! I am indebted to the reviewer4 for his introductory
remarks, for in so doing he created a breathing-space for me with respect to
those people who trumpeted every word that came from my mouth in Hamburg as Jewish propaganda! I also found it entirely appropriate
that he mentioned you to some extent in the review, as I could dare to speak about you in my lecture without my
attracting, entirely inadvertently, an opposition that could not be overcome, and which to some extent surfaced
anyway. One cannot accuse the reviewer even of telling a white lie, since I intentionally disguised those of
your truths that I regarded as important to bring out in a pedagogical guise
of my own making, as one is accustomed to
doing here these days, and hope that I have thereby given better service to the truth than if I had, stupidly,
refused to have a discussion [period following the lecture], as
certain other people do. It was enough for me that our master of ceremonies deemed the lecture
"unsuitable." Why that was the case is something I hardly need to explain.5

That Schenkerian threory is not
discussed today ("for the time being," as it says in the letter of the provincial
director) probably has to do in part with the fact that I have only now – personally, and also through
collaboration with other, reasonable people – made the provincial director aware of the content and value of
your life's work! Even a short time ago, Schenkerian theory was "Jewish rubbish," and the gentlemen in
question neither had an inkling of your work, nor did they know that you were still alive! So this is the way things were, and are, regarding your reputation here in the great
North! The standing that you enjoy in Hamburg is largely the
result of my efforts, and here I will mention Violin's name,
too! There are still other people here who draw profit from {2} your works, but they stopped opening
their mouths when it no longer seemed opportune to do so! Yet it would be absurd to suppose that I would show
off, at your expense! For me the question of "damage" or
"success" is entirely irrelevant; the only thing that matters is the truth! And the way in which I fight for these results
entirely and exclusively from the present circumstances, which would certainly be very difficult for you to
observe! The only thing that I ask for myself is the freedom to develop my own
ideas, and where and when I express these must be left to my judgement.6

One more thing: my "help" with the review extended [only] as far as reminding the reviewer of a few points that seemed important to
me, so that they would not be forgotten.7

Let me conclude, dear, honored master, with a contemporary saying: "To be German is to do
something for its own sake!" Ask nothing more of me! If you were in my shoes and had to put up
with what I have had to put up with here for the sake of the truth, i.e. also for your sake, you would have
perhaps chosen your words a little differently!

My wife and I thank you most cordially for
your good wishes, and wish you and your wife a good
rest!

Footnotes

1 Receipt of this letter is not
recorded in Schenker's diary.

2
This letter is not known to survive, but its writing is recorded in Schenker's diary at OJ 4/7, p. 3914, June
5, 1934: "An v. Cube (Br. u. Beilage zurück): tadle „freies geistiges Eigentum“." ("To von Cube (letter and
enclosure returned): I find fault with "free intellectual property"."). The newspaper review of Cube's public
lecture in Hamburg, which is the subject of Schenker's letter and Cube's reply here, does not survive in
Schenker's scrapbook. It can only be inferred that Schenker took exception to the way in which some of his
ideas were explained in the lecture, and censured his former pupil for having exploited them for his own
benefit.

3 No paragraph-break in original. (This letter, written as one
single long paragraph, has been broken up into shorter paragraphs for ease of reading
on-screen.)

4 The identity of the
reviewer is unknown.

5 No paragraph-break
in original.

6 Cube inserts and emdash in the original and then contiues writing without
paragraph-break.

Permission to publish granted by the heirs of Felix-Eberhard von Cube, March 2006. Any claim to intellectual rights on this document should be addressed to the Schenker Correspondence Project, Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, at schenkercorrespondence [at] mus (dot) cam (dot) ac (dot) uk.